Process of making artificial leather



Aug. M, i923. @A965092 R. B. RESPESS PROCESS OF MAKING ARTIFICIAL LEATHER Filed May 2l, 1920 Patented Aug. 14, 11923..`

l UNHTD STATES intacta PATENT clasica.

ROLAND B. RESPESS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, :BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO RESPRO INC., 0F CRANSTDN, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND.

PROCESS OF MAKING- ARTIFICIAL LEATHER.

Application led May 21,

T o all whomfit may concern:

\ Be it known that I, ROLAND B. Rnsrnss,

ing artificial leather,v and its special object dressing to woven cloth or felte With thisinvention there is obtained a -rollers 52, 53, with the fabric and a plu- 1s an improved method of applym surface fabric.

greater adhesion and durability for the surface dressing than is obtained by passing woven fabric or felted sheet under a knife,

as now employed in coating woven fabric or felt with liquid cellulose compound or other leather surface dressings. This method may also be employed to obtain better results in filling the" .small openings termed pin holes which occur in nearly all coated fabrics where the knife method alone is used. I'desire to cover the application only of liquid surface coating like a cellulose compound and not to apply to the application of heavy, doughy compounds like rubber, which "may be applied with pressure calendeisfrolls.

arious means and methods may be employed toapply the coating solution to the fabric, and in the accompanying drawings Fig. lshows a longitudinal section of the artificial leather; Figs. 2 and 3` represent diagrammatic views of apparatus t'o produce the artificial leather.

In Fig. 1 a sheet of wo-ven or felted fabric l0 is indicated with a surface dressing 12.

The la'tter is preferably? a cellulose co'mpound which may consist of commercial liquid cellulose rmixed with boiled linseed oil or castor., oil. a In Fig. 2 a shaft 15 is journaledin housings like 16. A tensioning device comprises "thelower member 20, whichbears up against the shaft 15 and has formed therewith the Plug 21 and the arm 22. The lug 21 is fastened to one ofthe housings 16, by means of screws 23. An upper member 25havng the arm 26 is hingedto the-lower member 20.

. A bolt 28 connects the arms 22 and 26 and thereby pressure can be brought on the shaft 15 to regulate its speed of rotation. The members 20 and 25 with their appurtenances le20." serial no. 383,222.

constitute a tension device. A block 32 has adjustably sup orted thereon the support-- ing table 33. guide roller 35 is journaled on one side of the table 33, and a pair of guide rollers 36 and 37 are lournaled on the other side of said table. friction roller 4() `is journaled above the rollers 36 and 37. Driving rollers are indicated at 42 and 43. 'A tank 45 for the liquid cellulose compound has extending therefrom the outlet nozzle 46 with the regulating valve 47. An adjustable knife or smear` blade isindicated at- 48. v

In Fig. 3 are indicated a pair of presser rality of coatings constituting the surface dressing thereon.

To produce the artificial leather the fabric is unwound from the shaft 15, under the control of the tension device having the members 20, 25 and passes over the guide roller V35, the table 33, then under the knife 48. The fabric next passes over the guide roller 36, under the friction .roller 40 and over the guide roller 37. Then the coated 4sheet passes under tension to Contact with the fast revolving friction roller 40, where the liquid is pressed by friction into the fibers of the sheet.

The liquid cellulose ocompound 12 issues :from the nozzle` 46 and is deposited upon the fabric 10 and Nproperly spread thereon by the knife 48. eXt the friction roller 40 frictions the liquid compound into the fabric. The fabric withvits coating constituting the surface dressing is propelled through the apparatus by the rollers 42, 43 and then dried. The rollers 42 and 43 maygbe omitted and the fabric propelled by other means.

The fabric with itscoating may be subjected to the same steps, a plurality of times to deposit thereon a number of layers of the will be foundJ to hold the surface dressing firmly Kthereto by reason of a part of the dressing penetrating into the twisted fibers of the woven sheet or the matted felted sheet` and the coating being better attached to' t-he surface of the sheet, than by useof a knife coating or'surface dressing one over the Y alone and Will have less. tendency to crack f or ee1 and produces a more durable surface. avlng described my invent1on, what l[ The herein described process of coating a fabric With a liquid surface dressing consisting in maintaining the fabric under tension, depositing a liquid cellulose dressing 10 on the fabric, spreading the dressing, 4i'rictioning the dressing into the fabric, repeating the above steps with the same fabric a over the other and subjecting tthe fabric 15' with its coatings to pressure.-

Signed at Boston in the county of Suffolk and @tate of Massachusetts this 12th day of May A. D. 1920. t

ROLAND B. RESPESS. 

